Severe Tropical Cyclone Daryl

16 - 25 November 1995

Summary

Tropical cyclone Daryl initially formed west of Sumatra on 16 November 1995 in a region of low vertical wind shear following a surge in the low-level westerlies near the equator. It reached tropical cyclone intensity at 2100 UTC 17 November 1995 when it was about 220 km northwest of Cocos Islands. At this time strong squally winds below gale force and heavy rain were observed at Cocos. Lying to the north of a middle-level ridge, Daryl tracked westwards and intensified, reaching category three intensity at 0600 UTC 19 November 1995. Shortly after, it passed outside of the Western Australian region of responsibility and was renamed Agnielle by Mauritius. The cyclone reached peak intensity at 1300 UTC 20 November 1995 when its central pressure was estimated to be 915 hPa from the Dvorak (1984) method of intensity analyses from satellite imagery. From then on the cyclone began to track towards the southwest after it passed the main high cell in the middle-level ridge. During 22 November 1995 it began on a southerly track. It had been only slowly weakening and it remained severe for more than four days with a well-defined eye evident on satellite imagery for three and a half days. By 2100 UTC 23 November 1995 its southerly track placed the cyclone under strong upper northwesterly winds and the convective cloud began to be displaced away from the low- level centre. It rapidly weakened with the low-level centre then being steered towards the west by a low-level ridge. The low-level circulation had dissipated by 0000 UTC 25 November 1995.